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Dessert

Pecan Candy

Pecan candy is a sweet treat made from brown sugar, sweet milk, butter, vinegar, and pecans.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Pecan Candy

Ingredients

Directions

Make the candy

  1. Combine brown sugar and sweet milk in a saucepan.

  2. Boil until a drop in cold water forms a soft ball.

  3. Remove from heat and stir in butter, vinegar, and chopped pecans.

  4. Beat the mixture until it thickens.

Set and cut

  1. Pour onto a buttered dish to harden, then cut into squares.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  2. Sugar + vinegartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,806 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  3. Butter + meattop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,594 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Milk + meattop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,703 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Light brown sugar
Provides the sweetness and caramel flavor that defines the candy.
Sweet milk
Dissolves the sugar and adds moisture and richness to the candy base.
Butter
Adds fat for a smoother texture and a richer mouthfeel.
Vinegar
Adds a small amount of acidity that helps prevent sugar from crystallizing too coarsely.
Chopped pecans
Add crunch and nutty flavor to the set candy.

The step that matters

Beating until it thickens. Beating a cooked sugar syrup as it cools makes tiny sugar crystals form, giving a creamy, opaque texture. Beating too early or too long can make the candy set too hard or grainy.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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